H.R. 5857 — FARM Act

This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Act, including (1) authorized repair provider (i.e., a person licensed by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to offer diagnosis, maintenance, or repair services for the OEM's farm equipment, or the OEM itself); (2) farm equipment (i.e., equipment designed primarily for farm operations, including combines, tractors, sprayers, pivots, implements, and attachments used in planting, cultivating, irrigating, harvesting, or ranching); (3) independent repair provider (i.e., a person who is not an authorized repair provider but provides diagnosis, maintenance, or repair services for farm equipment); (4) original equipment manufacturer (OEM) (i.e., a person who manufactures and sells, leases, or supplies farm equipment); (5) documentation (i.e., manuals, diagrams, schematics, and other information used for farm equipment diagnosis, maintenance, or repair); (6) fair and reasonable terms (i.e., terms for OEM-provided parts, tools, software, or documentation that impose no unnecessary costs, restrictions, or obligations on owners or independent repair providers, with no charge for digital tools or documentation); and (7) other terms such as commonly available, farm equipment data, firmware, and maintenance.

This section requires original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of farm equipment to make available, on fair and reasonable terms, to owners and independent repair providers (1) documentation, parts, software, firmware, or tools needed to diagnose, maintain, upgrade, reprogram, or repair such equipment; (2) data generated by the owner's equipment; and (3) means to disable or enable technological protection measures or security functions. It exempts from the prohibition on circumventing technological measures that control access to copyrighted works (17 U.S.C. §1201(a))—and from prohibitions on trafficking in circumvention technologies (17 U.S.C. §1201(a)-(b))—circumventions performed to diagnose, maintain, upgrade, reprogram, or repair farm equipment; enable interoperability with controlling software (beyond existing exemptions under §1201(f)); conduct security research on farm equipment (beyond existing exemptions under §1201(g), (j)); or enable noninfringing modifications of controlling software. (Thus, farmers and repair providers may circumvent access controls and use or obtain circumvention tools for these purposes without DMCA liability.) It further subjects OEMs to civil penalties for ceasing to provide required items and requires that parts be replaceable using common tools or OEM-supplied tools on fair and reasonable terms.

This section treats violations of section 3 or regulations under this Act as violations of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)); incorporates all applicable terms of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) for enforcement, including the Commission's jurisdiction, powers, duties, penalties, privileges, and immunities; and imposes additional civil penalties on OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for violating section 3(d)(1), as follows: (1) $1,000 per day for the first violation, (2) $2,000 per day for the second violation, and (3) $5,000 per day for the third and subsequent violations. (Thus, the Federal Trade Commission may apply its full unfair-or-deceptive-acts-or-practices enforcement authority, including civil penalties up to $51,744 per violation (adjusted for inflation), to such violations while preserving all other statutory authorities.)

This section directs the Commission to promulgate rules necessary to carry out the Act in accordance with the notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553). It further requires those rules to be consistent with the Clean Air Act and related EPA regulations, including 40 C.F.R. § 1068.101(b)(1) (prohibiting introduction of noncertified engines into commerce) and (6) (prohibiting defeat devices).

This section establishes limitations on the Act's requirements and prohibitions, clarifying that nothing in the Act may be construed (1) to require an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to divulge trade secrets except as necessary to provide owners or independent service providers access to repair materials or processes on fair and reasonable terms; (2) to alter agreements between an OEM and authorized repair provider except to the extent such agreements limit the OEM's obligations under the Act; (3) to require an authorized repair provider to provide documentation, parts, or tools for farm equipment from an OEM with which it lacks an arrangement under section 2(1); (4) to require an OEM to provide parts or equipment used solely for product development; or (5) to allow modifications that (A) permanently deactivate safety notification systems, (B) enable changes to farm equipment settings that cause permanent noncompliance with safety or emissions laws, (C) violate emissions or copyright laws, or (D) constitute other illegal activities.